YP Letters: Rule of law secures our democracy from Brexit abuses of power

Brexit is now mired in legal controversy.

GEOFF Marsden (The Yorkshire Post, November 29) suggests that the right of every citizen of this country to seek the decision of our judges on an issue of whether the law is being broken is undemocratic. He is completely wrong.

We live in a country whose laws are made democratically. That means we can say to anyone, even the Prime Minister, be you never so powerful, the law is above you. That is what secures our democracy.

The referendum was held because Parliament had passed a law to make it possible. But Parliament did not make the referendum binding. Our links with Europe are secured by Acts of our Parliament.

Our Government proposed to start the process to leave the EU without consulting Parliament. Some public-spirited citizens used their right to ask the judges whether this was lawful. The Government lawyers argued that it was. The judges, headed by the Lord Chief Justice, came to the conclusion that it was not.

The Government has exercised its right to appeal to the Supreme Court. We have judges who are respected the world over. They administer justice without fear or favour. We trust them to uphold our laws, because that is the foundation of our democracy.

From: Keith Alford, Fulwood, Sheffield.

THE consequences of the current confusion are becoming more obvious by the day, with adverse effects on scientific research, agricultural employment and industrial investment. It seems to me that the best course of action to save the country from years of economic and social unrest is for MPs to vote against triggering Article 50, as is their constitutional duty.

Thus Britain could use its position and influence to support like-minded countries within the EU in reforming the organisation, thereby perhaps regaining the respect for Britain within the international community that has been so readily squandered by generations of insular politicians.

From: JA King, Thurgoland, Sheffield.

I HAD to titter to myself over the recent letter in your column from former Liberal MP Michael Meadowcroft. Nice chap that he might be, he mixes up a fraudulent action by the banking sector with a democratic vote by the British people.

The Lib Dems have gone quiet on PR. If it was in force in the last election, they would only have had two MPs and Ukip would have had 10 MPs. Their silence is deafening.